Laid off worker shoots CEO, 2 more...

[Lurker]

A worker who was let go from his job returned to his former office in Santa Clara and opened fire Friday, killing three people before fleeing and leading police on an intensive search.

http://www.examiner.com/a-1692259~Police__Ex_worker_kills_3_at_Santa_Clara_office.html Sad as it is, it may just very well be the beginning of such acts, specially in United States where getting laid off often comes with little, or in most cases no, renumeration. This whole hire-and-fire often leaves laid off workers with little more than 2 months pay. Compare this with Europe, Japan etc where this is often 6-12months(and in most cases the laid off workers's money is tax free). I also have a slightly different take on this. As a BI consultant who often works with highers up the Corporate chain I also have seen how often these "lay-off" are essentially a tool to protect the stock value. In a very recent project I completed the company made 20% quarterly growth and laid off 10% of its workforce to send the "right" signals to the Stock Market. xx

[vadodaravictor]

I also feel that companies here are retards on hiring. When things are good, they hire like crazy. Every cow & frog is hired (irrespective of his/her abilities). I work for a large company and have seen this. Just two years ago, new grad students lacking basic skillset were hired just because they graduated from some IVY league school. Now with budget cuts, companies will trim excess fat and thats where it starts hurting.

[Lurker]

^^ indeed. It is odd how even the large and well-established companies suffer from this. During the time of crisis, like currently, this is a recipe for disaster. I can also smell tirades of anti-outsourcing gaining ground once we see more of IT job losses. Bear in mind IT by itself doesnt do anything, it depends on Corporations like GM, GE, Citigroup etc. With these big companies tanking one of the first place they will start cutting expenses is IT. Which means job losses at home and sending work abroad. Again something that wont get any good coverage.

[suraj]

All these facts still are no excuse to kill people

[fineleg]

All these facts still are no excuse to kill people

Ofcourse, no excuse. However, Lurker and Vadodara are right. I agree with them - that companies hire every cow, frog and toad in good times, and thats needless - and then they swing to the other extreme and cut folks left, right and center when its 'recession'. Like Lurks say, the top brass who commit the main strategic mistakes will still be employed, its the workers who carried out their stupid strategies that they were asked to carry out, who will be let go. Ridiculous system and very few (if any) companies buck this system.

[suraj]

Ofcourse, no excuse. However, Lurker and Vadodara are right. I agree with them - that companies hire every cow, frog and toad in good times, and thats needless - and then they swing to the other extreme and cut folks left, right and center when its 'recession'. Like Lurks say, the top brass who commit the main strategic mistakes will still be employed, its the workers who carried out their stupid strategies that they were asked to carry out, who will be let go. Ridiculous system and very few (if any) companies buck this system.

The fact is that entgerprising people in a country like US can always find another job or devlop someway rather than shooting people for loss of a job. Its not like a situation where the workers are hand to mouth labourers and loss of job means the family going hungry. This was a start up firm, not a huge corporation and everyone joining a startup is aware of the risks- the laid off worker was also an educated engineer who within a space of time would have found another job so it was not end of his life there. His actions, however, has ended 3 lives including an enterprising Indian enterpruener Sid Agrawal and a woman who had nothing to do with management at all. I have no sympathy for such a loser bastard- he should be caught and executed on the spot to teach others a lesson.

[fineleg]

i dont think anyone has sympathy for the guy, suraj. he certainly needs to be given the capital punishment. no questions. we were just talking a different topic in the thread, thats all. the topic of corporate america hiring policies.

[Guest HariSampath]

A company had a scrap yard in the middle of a desert. They did not know how to use it and could not sell it .Management said," Someone may steal it at night." So they created a night watchman position and hired a person at $18,000.00 a year for the job. Then management said, "How does the watchman do his job without instruction?" So they created a planning department and hired two people -- one person to write the instructions for $22,000.00 and one person to do time studies for an additional $22,000.00 per year. Then management said, "How will we know the night watchman is doing the tasks correctly?" So they created a quality control department and hired two people. One was to do the studies for $31,000.00 and one to write the reports for an additional $31,000,00 per year. Then management asked, "How are these people going to get paid?" So they created the following positions: a time keeper for a $35,000.00 annual salary and a payroll officer for an additional $35,000.00. Then they created an administrative section and hired three more people -- an Administrative Officer at $155,000.00 per year, an Assistant Administrative Officer at $125,000.00 and a Legal Secretary at $100,000.00 per year. Then at the annual corporate meeting the directors said, "We have had this operating for one year with a budget cost of $574,000.00 and we are $18,000.00 over budget. We must cut back costs." The watchman was laid off Its the same old story...

[DomainK]

Blame it more on the easy availability of arms in the US. Anyone who is a bit dissatisfied gets one and plays psycho.

[Lurker]

This was a start up firm, not a huge corporation and everyone joining a startup is aware of the risks- the laid off worker was also an educated engineer who within a space of time would have found another job so it was not end of his life there.

Yes it is. I am not sure how much aware you are of the current job market but if you were you wouldnt possibly have made that kind of comment. Right now it is practically the worst I have ever seen in United States. There are lot more many people than positions(something others have hinted earlier) and to compound the problems we also have a ton of H1Bs. Now if I can detect that as a migrant imagine how others feel. Last month I was assigned a job to form a team of half dozen people, 3 BI developers and 3 ETL developers and I interviewed them over a period of week. I found 2 sets of people: a) Americans, typically aged 35-45, who often were not the sharpest tool in the box but were impressive in terms of business knowledge and more importantly honesty. If they were in between projects they would say so without trying to hide it. b) Indians, aged 25-35, who often were technically sharper but had very limited knowledge of the business. Also I definitely detected a lack of honesty whereby everyone seemed to be on a project but was willing to join us within 48 hours. What bothered me most was how both groups, Indian migrant and American, was ready to make cross-country moves to pick up the position, often even if it meant a demotion, just to keep their heads above the water. This was not the first time I was doing the interviews but it sure was the first time I have seen this. Bottomline the job market is terrible right now and I wouldnt make that kind of comment - easy to get another job - so very lightly. xxx

[suraj]

Yes it is. I am not sure how much aware you are of the current job market but if you were you wouldnt possibly have made that kind of comment. Right now it is practically the worst I have ever seen in United States. There are lot more many people than positions(something others have hinted earlier) and to compound the problems we also have a ton of H1Bs. Now if I can detect that as a migrant imagine how others feel. Last month I was assigned a job to form a team of half dozen people, 3 BI developers and 3 ETL developers and I interviewed them over a period of week. I found 2 sets of people: a) Americans, typically aged 35-45, who often were not the sharpest tool in the box but were impressive in terms of business knowledge and more importantly honesty. If they were in between projects they would say so without trying to hide it. b) Indians, aged 25-35, who often were technically sharper but had very limited knowledge of the business. Also I definitely detected a lack of honesty whereby everyone seemed to be on a project but was willing to join us within 48 hours. What bothered me most was how both groups, Indian migrant and American, was ready to make cross-country moves to pick up the position, often even if it meant a demotion, just to keep their heads above the water. This was not the first time I was doing the interviews but it sure was the first time I have seen this. Bottomline the job market is terrible right now and I wouldnt make that kind of comment - easy to get another job - so very lightly. xxx

Either you are blind or unable to comprehend because I don't know where you saw that I said it is easy to get another job. What I did say was that it is not the end of life-living in US and dealing with this situation I know fully well how tough it is but to despair and think your life is soooooo over that you need to shoot other people is exaggeration. I have seen numerous examples of strong, proud people who do not hesitate to even work on a ranch or downgrade for a little while to tide over the loss of job situation, my own brother-in-law is willing to go back to India and keep growing his career there rather than going on a shooting spree; these people to me show character and will eventually be able to meet not only the job market but other challenges in life too whereas cowards like this shooter need to blame others and kill them. I find your comment about making light of someone's situation weird because your posts seem to indicate exactly the same for folks who got killed; as if a bad job market is a justification for it.

[suraj]

Blame it more on the easy availability of arms in the US. Anyone who is a bit dissatisfied gets one and plays psycho.

Exactly- that to me is the real problem vs. these excuses of poor job market

[suraj]

Meanwhile killer has been arrested: Silicon Valley: Jing Hua Wu, who gunned down Sid Agrawal, the Indian American CEO of a semi-conductor company, along with two of his top officials on Friday afternoon, was arrested by the Santa Clara Police on Saturday. Jing, 47, now facing triple homicide charge, was arrested by the police on Saturday morning outside a business in Mountain View, the neighborhood where the assailant apparently lived. Indian-American CEO killed in US shooting He was let go by the company on Friday morning, which the police suspect could have been the main reason for this shooting spree at the office of SiPort Inc in Santa Clara. Santa Clara police chief Steve Lodge said the assailant was unarmed and made no resistance at the time of arrest. The arrest followed a massive manhunt launched by the police soon after the shootout on Friday afternoon. Following his arrest, Jing was interrogated by police. No details were however available immediately. The police said Jing had been arrested on charges of killing three top officials of SiPort Inc. Sid Agrawal, 56, an electrical engineering graduate from IIT Kanpur, was the CEO and director of the company. The other two victims identified by the police are Marilyn Lewis, 67, company's head of human resources, and Brian Pugh, 47, vice-president (operations) of the company. Addressing a press conference after the arrest, Santa Clara police chief conceded that the shooting spree had caused "genuine fear in the community." With global economic meltdown, a lot of people in Silicon Valley are facing job cuts. http://sify.com/news/fullstory.php?id=14798772

[suraj]

The victim: http://www.bittenandbound.com/wp-con...tor-siport.jpg The killer: http://www.bittenandbound.com/wp-con....thumbnail.JPG

[Lurker]

Either you are blind or unable to comprehend because I don't know where you saw that I said it is easy to get another job. What I did say was that it is not the end of life-living in US and dealing with this situation I know fully well how tough it is but to despair and think your life is soooooo over that you need to shoot other people is exaggeration.

Go easy there tiger. Slamming on internet is easiest thing in the world so dont just hop on the bandwagon yet. And are you sooo blunt that you simply do not understand the difference between me saying such situations will only increase based on prevalent situation and supporting such acts? Who here has remotely supported such acts?? Seriously mate get a grip before you go all antsy.

I have seen numerous examples of strong, proud people who do not hesitate to even work on a ranch or downgrade for a little while to tide over the loss of job situation, my own brother-in-law is willing to go back to India and keep growing his career there rather than going on a shooting spree; these people to me show character and will eventually be able to meet not only the job market but other challenges in life too whereas cowards like this shooter need to blame others and kill them.

Your brother-in-law has a choice, others may not. I dont give any brownie points to your brother in law and I am not going to deduct any points from people here as well. People tend to make decisions based on THEIR life, not what Suraj's BIL is doing so stop being a judgemental freak.

I find your comment about making light of someone's situation weird because your posts seem to indicate exactly the same for folks who got killed; as if a bad job market is a justification for it.

Two things: a) You indeed seem to be oblivious to plight of job market in USA. Somehow you seem to give the impression that Indian migrant going back to India makes a difference to USA citizen. It does NOT. The market is falling left right and center, joblessness is highest since 2001, foreclosure is rampant, bailouts are happening everyday, giant coroprations are coming down. Just what makes you give all that ridiculously unrealistic statements about people moving to other jobs? b) To spell out why this helplessness will see more people take to violence is NOT the same as asking people to kill. Please do some homework and see how the crime rate in Detroit has skyrocketed as Big 3 have tanked. And take a grip before you go all antsy.

[suraj]

Go easy there tiger. Slamming on internet is easiest thing in the world so dont just hop on the bandwagon yet. And are you sooo blunt that you simply do not understand the difference between me saying such situations will only increase based on prevalent situation and supporting such acts? Who here has remotely supported such acts?? Seriously mate get a grip before you go all antsy. Your brother-in-law has a choice, others may not. I dont give any brownie points to your brother in law and I am not going to deduct any points from people here as well. People tend to make decisions based on THEIR life, not what Suraj's BIL is doing so stop being a judgemental freak. Two things: a) You indeed seem to be oblivious to plight of job market in USA. Somehow you seem to give the impression that Indian migrant going back to India makes a difference to USA citizen. It does NOT. The market is falling left right and center, joblessness is highest since 2001, foreclosure is rampant, bailouts are happening everyday, giant coroprations are coming down. Just what makes you give all that ridiculously unrealistic statements about people moving to other jobs? b) To spell out why this helplessness will see more people take to violence is NOT the same as asking people to kill. Please do some homework and see how the crime rate in Detroit has skyrocketed as Big 3 have tanked. And take a grip before you go all antsy.

Discussion with you is useless- you keep telling a person who deals with the hiring & firing on a daily basis in this tough job environment that he has no idea of the job market!! The day you realize that some people might actually know more than you we can have a meaningful debate.